The third time the scent brushed my senses, I stopped cold.

Ronan nearly bumped into me. “What now?”

I lifted my head, inhaling sharply. The forest was quiet, too quiet, as though holding its breath with me.

It was there again—that warmth, threaded with something untamed. My wolf surged, claws scraping against the inside of my skin, demanding I give chase.

But I couldn’t. Not here. Not now.

“We’re not alone,” I murmured.

Ronan stiffened, his hand instinctively brushing the dagger strapped to his thigh. “Show me where.”

I shook my head. “It’s gone. Moving. Whatever it is, it knows how to stay hidden.”

Ronan gave me a look. “And you’re not going to hunt it down?”

I clenched my fists, nails biting into my palms. Every part of me wanted to do exactly that—to tear through the trees, to track this scent until I found the source. But the rational part of me, the Alpha who had sworn to keep his pack safe, held me still.

“No,” I said finally. “Not yet.”

We walked again, but my mind wasn’t on the path. It was on the way my wolf paced beneath the surface, restless and impatient.

This wasn’t normal. Wolves did not stir like this over a passing scent. Not unless…

I cut the thought short. Impossible.

I had already bound myself with words to Darius, to Lyra. Whatever this was, it didn’t matter. It couldn’t matter.

And yet—

Every time the breeze shifted, carrying that faint trace again, my chest tightened, my heartbeat kicking against my ribs as though trying to break free.

“You’re distracted,” Ronan said bluntly after a long stretch of silence.

I shot him a glare. “No.”

He smirked. “You’re distracted. I’ve seen you go into battle with clearer focus. Something out here has you spooked.”

“Not spooked.” The word tasted sour. “Alert.”

“Alert, distracted, restless—whatever word you want to use.” His grin faded, and his tone softened. “Don’t let it eat at you, Kael. You’ve got enough weighing on your shoulders without chasing ghosts.”

I didn’t answer. Because it wasn’t a ghost.

It was real. And it was out there.

We reached the farthest stretch of the border just as the sun split the horizon, bleeding orange light through the canopy. The trees here were denser, their roots twisting like veins over the earth.

I stopped again, staring through the gaps in the trunks toward the human lands.

Beyond the forest, faint wisps of smoke curled in the distance—the town. Ordinary lives unfolding. People waking to bake bread, tend gardens, send children to school.

So close. So vulnerable.

And yet, standing there, it didn’t feel like I was the predator and they were the prey.

It felt like something in that town was waiting for me.

The scent returned stronger this time, drifting straight from that direction.

My wolf lunged inside me, snapping at my restraint, howling for me to go—now.

I gritted my teeth, digging my boots into the earth to keep from moving.

No.

I was Alpha. My choices shaped my pack’s survival. My life was no longer mine to gamble.

And yet…

The pull didn’t fade. It deepened, settling into my bones like it belonged there.

Ronan placed a hand on my shoulder. “Kael.”

I dragged in a breath, forcing the tension from my limbs. “Let’s move.”

But as we turned back, I couldn’t shake the feeling I had just walked away from something I was never meant.

By the time we returned to the heart of our lands, the scent had vanished. But the unease hadn’t.

It clung to me like a second skin, whispering that something had shifted.

Something was coming.

And no amount of borders, treaties, or vows would keep it from finding me.